Hola from California

[Ex_Pat_Tanker]

RAF Bassingbourn - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/91st_Bomb_Group

[fv432]

cheers mart 

[Ex_Pat_Tanker]

I went there for an open day once - didn't see much as it chucked it down the whole day and the army put on PT displays in the hangers instead of the pitched battle we wanted to see. Some how a bunch of guys in leotards jumping around wasn't quite as appealing as CVR(T)'s and gunfire... ::)

Actually I think a company holds "track days" on part of the site now - I seem to recall my mate taking his Tiger and Mk2 MR2 down there a few times for a thrash.

[Pcomm1]

Answers:

The 8th AF's 91st Bomb Group did fly out of Bassingbourn. My uncle crewed with Careful Virgin, Eagles Wrath and Delta Rebel II. Delta Rebel II being the most famous of those B-17Fs and Clark Gable's PR airplane state side. You can check all that out, as there is a lot of content online about the 91st:

http://www.91stbombgroup.com/

With the 34th Bomb Group he crewed in Little Joe and was a Group Navigator in the lead B-24 Sunshine Rose, which was shot down over Belgium on August 7, 1944. Listed in AF records as a POW, he actually evaded capture and returned safe and sound, though most of Sunshine Rose's crew did not survive (scroll down to Aug 7, 1944, Sunshine Rose):

http://valortovictory.tripod.com/1944-08.htm

I researched the above content several years ago. John

[tankmad]

With the antics of your uncle you never know we could be related.
Stevie

[Pcomm1]

With the antics of your uncle you never know we could be related.
Stevie

Stevie, Welcome to the family bro!

The 8th AF, 91st BG B-17G, Delta Rebel II's crew was as notorious as she got. Almost as deadly to the Axis' as she was to her UK Allies. The crew created at least one international incident during their 25 missions.

Delta's crew, flying Stormy Weather, buzzed an RAF base with the bomb bay open, a major insult and an international incident that went straight to Ike, your PM and Queen. Why? Most of the crew was caught, but escaped from within a Women's RAF barracks early one morning. Which of course necessitated the RAF Base fly by; bay open.

That pilot went on to a very long, distinguished USAF career as a test pilot and command officer. He set many 1950's international records in the B-58A Hustler super sonic bomber. I talked with the gentlemen, Col George Birdsong at length about 7 years ago, and got most of his 91st BG stories first hand including the real info on my uncle. Col Birdsong peacefully passed several months later.

Anyway, the solution reached by the high brass to end Delta Rebel II crew's overall insubordination was to keep sending them over Germany and that hopefully would end the RAF base fly overs and RAF women issues. It didn't work, they all came back to the states, with Clark Gable no less (this is Col Birdsong's book): Stormy Weather, a B-17 and the Royal Air Force affair; and Delta Rebel No. 2; a trilogy; by G.P. Birdsong, Jr.

[fv432]

thanks john for a very inspiring read on the history of your uncles unit

[Pcomm1]

Your welcome.

You know, I never was interested in WWII history until I saw "Saving Private Ryan" and watched "Band of Brothers" and discovered the RC model tank.
Now, plus the AFV modeling, I enjoy the historical research of the hobby as much as the build. Researching all things involving the PolySci of WWII, the 8th AF out of England, German Panzer Forces and of course the relatives who served in WWII make for interesting stuff.

Now, working on the service record of a TD MSgt uncle who fought in and survived the Battle of the Bulge and the ETO in general. The web is really helpful, since the majority of these men have passed without ever talking about or recording their own experiences, so it can give one an interesting first person peek at their history. And I completely understand the reasons for that silence over the last 65 to 75 years. Really bad news times, to say the least. 

[BREL]

I can understand why Men who have fought in any combat zone are reluctant to talk about their experiences.
My Paternal grandfather was in the home guard during the second world war and was also in a reserved occupation and was fire watching on Liverpool docks, when a building he was on got bombed, he was the only one to be pulled out alive, My Mother said that he was a changed man after that and that he never talked about it.

[Pcomm1]

Hi BREL,

I can not think of a worse experience to survive, than to be in any city under a bombing attack, especially in 1940's England. It is still amazing to me that all the people who survived WWII came back and rebuilt their lives and towns.

I worked with a guy in the early 1990's who was a young teenager in Antwerp during WWII and had a completely different take on the worth of B-17 bombers and WWII's 8th AF's bombing of his city and it wasn't positive to say the least. He did love the USA and served in combat in Korea with the US Army to help gain his US citizenship. That is a hard road for sure. He was at one time the commercial art director on Kellogg's Frosted Flakes "Tony the Tiger" and did much to develop that icon's popularity in Europe and North America during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Take care, John